Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
Where have we been in the last two months? Well, to tell you the truth, that’s a question I couldn’t answer off the top of my head. I had to look back at our calendar to remind myself of all the places we’ve gone. After you have been traveling for a while, all your separate experiences begin to amalgamate into one mosaic memory. Not that the individual pieces are all forgotten, but my memory doesn’t retain them on a chronological grid. A look back at our calendar has reminded me that in July and August we had meetings in Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Ohio again,
and North Carolina. Some highlights were the extra preaching opportunities I was given by several churches, including the opportunity to do a mini-series on the book of Jonah in Madison, Ohio; a biographical sketch of missionary William Carey in Rockford, Illinois; and a full day of preaching just last week in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Don’t forget that you can view pictures and frequent updates of our travels under “Bixby News” at www.HopeforFrance.org.
UPCOMING TRAVELS
Before you receive our next update letter, we are should have had meetings in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina again, Florida, Texas and—yes—Arizona. Please pray that God will prevent
our Dodge Caravan (with more than 194,000 miles already on its record) from entering an unannounced early retirement. With our hopes set on leaving for France in less than a year, we don’t want to invest in another vehicle. On the other hand, neither do we want to break down on a deserted highway halfway across Texas! We are confident that God has sovereign control even over transportation concerns.
A DEPARTURE DATE
We do have some exciting news to share! My parents would like to come home on furlough next year and have asked us to come and replace them in their ministry in Bordeaux, France, during that time. Our plans are to go in mid-June 2009 and stay at least through the end of the year. If we have reached our support goal by the time we leave, we will simply remain on in France. (Boy, wouldn’t that be exciting!) If not, we may have to return for a few months in 2010 to finish raising the needed funds. Since we were already planning to kick off our French ministry in Bordeaux, this new opportunity comes not as a delay, but as an acceleration of our plans. It will allow us to get re-immersed into French ministry (I’ll be doing all the preaching in
French), to study and improve our French skills in the university, and to begin preparations for our own future church plant. Needless to say, we are excited to have a departure date in sight.
Please pray that God will guide us as we begin to navigate the complicated visa system. We will soon have to choose between the short-term fix of applying for a student visa (good for one year) or the more permanent (and more difficult to obtain) long-term visitor’s visa. The determining factor will probably be how much support has been committed by the time we have to apply for our visas. Please pray that God will either bring in all of our permanent support in time for the June departure, or give us partners who would be willing to support us as short-term missionaries for the six months we hope to spend in France next year.
THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE
Adoniram Judson once said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” As we (along with you) look to the future with hearts full of aspirations and uncertainties, may we always remember that our lives are guided by the all-wise, all-powerful, and all-good God. We wouldn’t want it any other way.
Where have we been in the last two months? Well, to tell you the truth, that’s a question I couldn’t answer off the top of my head. I had to look back at our calendar to remind myself of all the places we’ve gone. After you have been traveling for a while, all your separate experiences begin to amalgamate into one mosaic memory. Not that the individual pieces are all forgotten, but my memory doesn’t retain them on a chronological grid. A look back at our calendar has reminded me that in July and August we had meetings in Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Ohio again,
and North Carolina. Some highlights were the extra preaching opportunities I was given by several churches, including the opportunity to do a mini-series on the book of Jonah in Madison, Ohio; a biographical sketch of missionary William Carey in Rockford, Illinois; and a full day of preaching just last week in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Don’t forget that you can view pictures and frequent updates of our travels under “Bixby News” at www.HopeforFrance.org.UPCOMING TRAVELS
Before you receive our next update letter, we are should have had meetings in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina again, Florida, Texas and—yes—Arizona. Please pray that God will prevent
our Dodge Caravan (with more than 194,000 miles already on its record) from entering an unannounced early retirement. With our hopes set on leaving for France in less than a year, we don’t want to invest in another vehicle. On the other hand, neither do we want to break down on a deserted highway halfway across Texas! We are confident that God has sovereign control even over transportation concerns.A DEPARTURE DATE
We do have some exciting news to share! My parents would like to come home on furlough next year and have asked us to come and replace them in their ministry in Bordeaux, France, during that time. Our plans are to go in mid-June 2009 and stay at least through the end of the year. If we have reached our support goal by the time we leave, we will simply remain on in France. (Boy, wouldn’t that be exciting!) If not, we may have to return for a few months in 2010 to finish raising the needed funds. Since we were already planning to kick off our French ministry in Bordeaux, this new opportunity comes not as a delay, but as an acceleration of our plans. It will allow us to get re-immersed into French ministry (I’ll be doing all the preaching in
French), to study and improve our French skills in the university, and to begin preparations for our own future church plant. Needless to say, we are excited to have a departure date in sight.Please pray that God will guide us as we begin to navigate the complicated visa system. We will soon have to choose between the short-term fix of applying for a student visa (good for one year) or the more permanent (and more difficult to obtain) long-term visitor’s visa. The determining factor will probably be how much support has been committed by the time we have to apply for our visas. Please pray that God will either bring in all of our permanent support in time for the June departure, or give us partners who would be willing to support us as short-term missionaries for the six months we hope to spend in France next year.
THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE
Adoniram Judson once said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” As we (along with you) look to the future with hearts full of aspirations and uncertainties, may we always remember that our lives are guided by the all-wise, all-powerful, and all-good God. We wouldn’t want it any other way.
In Christ,
Tim for the family
ITINERARY
September 3 — Greenville, SC
September 7 (am) — Reading, PA
September 7 (pm) — Berwick, PA
September 10 — Pepperell, MA
September 14-15 — Darlington, MD
September 24 — Greenville, SC
September 28 — Lady Lake, FL
October 1 — Winter Garden, FL
October 3-5 — Panama City, FL
October 12 — Houston, TX
October 15 — Rockwall, TX
October 19 — Katy, TX
October 22 — Tucson, AZ
October 26 (am) — Sahuarita, AZ
October 26 (pm) — Scottsdale, AZ
October 31 — Buckeye, AZ
No comments:
Post a Comment